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‘Austerity measures won’t affect NMC students’
The Northern Marianas College, which lifted austerity measures only last Dec. 3, will be going back to austerity measures effective March 8 and would include salary deductions in some cases and reduction in work hours of up to 20%.
These austerity measures will not affect class operations, according to interim NMC president Frankie Eliptico.
He said no classes will be canceled and the college will work to ensure that students are not impacted by austerity measures. All classes will run as scheduled, including Friday and Saturday classes.
“We have students who are graduating in three months and we can’t cancel classes now because of austerity measures and delay their goal of earning their college degrees,” said Eliptico. “My team and I want to make sure that our students continue on their academic journey because, at the end of the day, their degree is not just a piece of paper, it’s an opportunity for a better life.”
According to Eliptico, NMC still plans to offer more classes in the summer.
In addition to not cutting classes, NMC is coming up with more ways to raise additional revenue. The college is also continuing to engage its students despite reduced work hours for employees.
“We are now having to move forward in looking at different strategies and approaches to be able to have a high level of student engagement for our students with these austerity measures,” said NMC student leadership coordinator Alexis Cabrera.
One of those events happened yesterday, Feb. 19: a creative writing workshop that focuses on the theme “Home (Is)land” which included a short craft lesson, writing exercises, and a peer review, in collaboration with University of Guam Press.
One of the programs on campus that will be ramping up activities is the Office of Student Activities and Leadership, which revolves around enhancing the lives of students and includes services such as leadership engagement, and comes up with different initiatives and activities to give students a sense of belonging, campus pride and different tools and resources to ensure that they’re successful when they graduate from NMC.
